Email is an indispensable channel for marketers seeking to attract, engage and retain prospects and customers. However, sometimes in an attempt to talk to customers, they end up having a monologue instead of a meaningful two-sided conversation, which leaves a bad taste in their inboxes. It is important for marketers to keep some basic best practices in mind to ensure that their communication is such that it prompts their target audience to open, respond and even share their message onwards with their networks.
In this post, we will be focusing on creating enriching and meaningful conversations with the target audience via email marketing by following some proven best practices.
Catchy and Appealing Subject Lines Are Must
While juggling multiple tasks and trying to execute email campaigns, marketers sometimes scribble subject lines as an after-thought. 64% of people say they open an email because of the subject line (Source: Chadwick Martin Bailey). Subject lines are perhaps one of the most crucial aspects of your campaign since they determine whether people choose to engage with your email or not. A handy tip for B2B marketers, for best performing email campaigns, include words such as “money,” “revenue,” and “profit” as a part of your subject line (Source: Adestra July 2012 Report).
Conduct A/B Testing
Divide your lists and test out your subject lines, content, frequency of content, times (of the day and week) to get a perfect understanding of what the type of communication preferred by your audience. It was found that Monday emails had the highest return per email (Source: Experian 2012 Q4 Email Benchmark Report). While this might differ from industry to industry, it tells marketers that sending emails on Monday will see higher engagement and better performance. Similarly, marketers need to find out what works best with their target audience through A/B testing.
Don’t Try to be Everything to Everyone
With email marketing, there is often a tendency to get caught up with list-building with a single-minded focus towards sending as many updates to prospects and customers as possible. While this is a good idea for a branding exercise, it is important to understand that these buyers/prospects are at different stages of the purchase life-cycle and this communication might not necessarily appeal to them.
Must Include CTA Buttons and Messages
It was found that emails that include social sharing buttons have a 158% higher click-through rate (Source: GetResponse). Your audience needs to be directed or given that nudge to act on your message, whether it is sharing, responding – reminding them with the help of clearly visible buttons will ensure that you get some amount of engagement from them.
Keep the above best practices in mind to ensure that your customers are delighted to hear from you and are eager to have conversations with you.
